Limited Company vs Sole Trader

[Conorjm10]

Hi, just looking for advice on going limited as opposed to being a sole trader. Obviously there is both pros and cons to both but I'm just wandering if anybody has recently made the transition and has any info on how it affected them and their business. 

 

Thanks.

 

[topchippyles]

There was a big post on this a few weeks back

[dig-dug-dan]

  On 18/08/2019 at 07:52, Conorjm10 said:

Hi, just looking for advice on going limited as opposed to being a sole trader. Obviously there is both pros and cons to both but I'm just wandering if anybody has recently made the transition and has any info on how it affected them and their business. 

 

Thanks.

 

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My accountant kept advising me to go limited. It was double the accountancy fees, change of bank accounts, plus if you wanted to then get finance, you had no trading history effectively. I decided against it after speaking to several people who basically got inspected by HMRC and had paid the wrong dividends ending up with massive Bill's of back tax. The loophole of doing it to get round tax has been closed, my accountant no longer pushes me to do it.

The only benefit I can see is you cannot be sued, if you are you just close the company and start again

[Woodlover]

I am going back a few years but my accountant then told me that as a Ltd company my own property was safe and could never be taken from me if something ever went wrong...So as a Sole Trader what happens if your insurance does not pay for what ever reason, can someone take your house?

[Matthew Storrs]

Could this not happen any way? What if you maim someone in a car accident an insurance doesn’t pay out? 

[Big J]

If you are going to get into the 40% tax bracket, you want to be a limited company as tax on dividends is 19%. 

[swinny]

  On 18/08/2019 at 19:22, Big J said:

If you are going to get into the 40% tax bracket, you want to be a limited company as tax on dividends is 19%. 

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No corporation tax is 19% dividends are 7%

[Big J]

  On 18/08/2019 at 19:37, swinny said:

No corporation tax is 19% dividends are 7%

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My mistake. 

 

We're in the process of switching over from sole trader to Ltd, and it's hard to keep track of everything and keep doing the day job too. 

Either way, the accountant ran the figures and being an Ltd saves us some considerable amount of tax. We're stuck in that uncomfortable situation of not wanting to pay excessive tax (as noone does) but needing to declare maximal income in order to obtain a reasonable mortgage. 1st world problems, I guess....

[Steve Bullman]

  On 18/08/2019 at 07:52, Conorjm10 said:

Hi, just looking for advice on going limited as opposed to being a sole trader. Obviously there is both pros and cons to both but I'm just wandering if anybody has recently made the transition and has any info on how it affected them and their business. 

 

Thanks.

 

Expand  

Speaking for myself, going limited has saved me a fortune. If I had done it years ago I probably would have saved myself around 50k, but I had a crap accountant who kept putting me off the idea.

[Steve Bullman]

  On 18/08/2019 at 19:40, Big J said:

My mistake. 

 

We're in the process of switching over from sole trader to Ltd, and it's hard to keep track of everything and keep doing the day job too. 

Either way, the accountant ran the figures and being an Ltd saves us some considerable amount of tax. We're stuck in that uncomfortable situation of not wanting to pay excessive tax (as noone does) but needing to declare maximal income in order to obtain a reasonable mortgage. 1st world problems, I guess....

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I think some mortgage brokers take into account what you have in your company aside from what you have paid yourself